The exemplary embodiment relates to document layout. It finds particular application in connection with an automated system and method for aligning objects of a document which takes into account saliency within the object.
Content alignment consists of the organization of the various objects (textual, graphical, and pictorial images) composing a digital document. The purpose of this operation is generally to promote readability and usability of the document by organizing the document object inside a page, so that their content is aligned with the natural eye's scanning patterns.
Graphical designers use intuition and experience in determining where to position text objects and pictorial objects in a document to provide an arrangement which is pleasing to the observer. Where text relates to a pictorial object, the text may be positioned to the left or right of the object, between upper and lower horizontal guidelines corresponding to the top and bottom of the pictorial object. The graphical designer may align the text with a human face, or in the case of an enlarged portrait, the professional designer may align the textual object with the eyes or line of sight of the eyes in the face.
For many applications, such as variable data applications, where either the text or the image may vary in the document, depending on the recipient, such a manually intensive approach may not be cost effective. Automated methods of alignment are available, however, these methods simply center the text between the horizontal guidelines or align it with upper or lower guidelines. Such approaches lack flexibility and can often lead to results which are not aesthetically pleasing to the observer. Object alignment thus remains an operation which is usually performed manually during the document editing.
There remains a need for automated content-based alignment methods which may be utilized in applications such as digital publishing where overall aesthetic quality is highly valued.